Camouflage Colors: Wehrmacht Heer 1939-1945, by Tomáš Chorý, translated by Charles K. Kliment. (ISBN 80-902634-1-0, Aura Design Studio, Atelier Loucany 667, 783 44 p. Namest na Hane, Czech Republic, e-mail: aura.ol@worldonline.cz. Soft cover, spiral-bound, 8,25" x 11,5", 70 pages, 28 black and white and 17 color photos, 21 paint swatches, 30 color examples of camouflage schemes, 2000, US$ 23.00).  

For years there has been a lively debate over the paint colors used on Wehrmacht vehicles in World War II. The author of this book has endeavored to define German army colors and painting practices, using evidence such as Wehrmacht paint and camouflage regulations, RAL color registers, vintage color photographs, and surviving equipment with original and well-preserved paint. The actual paints come in for detailed discussion, including RAL and Wehrmacht numbering systems, paint types, chemical compositions, and properties;and methods of aplication. To illustrate his arguments, the author offers thirty sample camouflage patterns and twenty-one color swatches of RAL colors. These swatches are actual samples of sprayed paint, not process-printed, color approximations. Certain to elicit further debate are author’s assertions that there were at least four – and probably many more – shades of dunkelgelb (dark yellow) in army use, and that there was probably some variation in other paint colors because of material shortages, use of captured stock (and misuse of surplus stock), and variations in the manufacturing process from plant to plant. The photographs in the book include some often-seen examples, but there are also some exciting rarities. While the author admits that “many facts are still covered by a veil of secrecy and await discovery”, he has produced a cogent commentary on a difficult subject.

Thomas R. Kailbourn